Fireworks

Because going outside is dangerous (sunburns and explosives come to mind), we’ve got the best of the Fourth online. With Independence Day falling awkwardly on Wednesday this year, it feels like we’re being cheated and our right to celebrate properly is being infringed upon. At least this is the prevailing mood of those of us who are working all week or as @NamOf succinctly tweeted, this is “the least 4th of July week ever.” However perhaps this is a good thing for America because it may compel us to moderate and restrain ourselves a bit more than we would if the holiday occurred instead on a Friday or the weekend, especially when adult beverages and fireworks are involved.

It would be fair to say that Cai Guo-Qiang is “blowing up” on the art scene. Since the mid-80s, Guo-Qiiang – who grew up within spitting distance of a Chinese military base – has been making unusual paintings with gunpowder and other explosive materials. His charred, smoke-covered canvasses, some of which look like they might have been recovered from actual disaster scenes, capture the duality between destruction and creation by shockingly literal means. You’ve likely already seen one of his most memorable installations without even knowing it: in 2008, Guo-Qiang designed the opening fireworks and explosives for the Beijing Summer Olympics as its Director of Visual Effects. Clearly, this is evidence that I should have cultivated my early pyrophile tendencies as a child, because I’d definitely be famous by now…